I would get the AC-1 if possible. The sound card should boost your performance if anything, since it processes sound and takes some load off the CPU. That is the main reason I have one.

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Most don't provide much of a boost, if any. Only those with dedicated DSPs provide any type of offloading. But those without don't hurt performance either. In this case, it will be about the same either way, but sound quality will take a huge jump.

That said, I think the money would be better spent on a more substantial upgrade, such as more ram. If you are a gamer, 1GB should really be considered the minimum.

I didn't say the difference would be noticeable
Still, it's better to have some type of sound card than using onboard, quality and performance wise. Even my old Audigy SE put my Realtek "HD" (yeah right) onboard audio to shame.

I didn't say the difference would be noticeable
Still, it's better to have some type of sound card than using onboard, quality and performance wise. Even my old Audigy SE put my Realtek "HD" (yeah right) onboard audio to shame.

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Right, I couldn't agree more. But the OP only has 512MB of ram. It's my opinion that he should address that first, then worry about a sound card.

Most don't provide much of a boost, if any. Only those with dedicated DSPs provide any type of offloading. But those without don't hurt performance either. In this case, it will be about the same either way, but sound quality will take a huge jump.

That said, I think the money would be better spent on a more substantial upgrade, such as more ram. If you are a gamer, 1GB should really be considered the minimum.

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I agree. Sound isnt very high on my list of priorities.
As long as I can hear, and its clear thats cool for me.

But then again some people go crazy over sound and thats fair enough, I preferred to buy an expensive (good looking IMO ) case.
I agree with Wile E though, if your running games on a Dell you probably have something in there that could do with an upgrade.

As far as RAM, I agree.. I should have more. But my problem with that is that my motherboard only supports RDRAM. I don't think that I can put a different kind of motherboard into my computer without changing everything. Although, I'm not too sure about it.

As far as RAM, I agree.. I should have more. But my problem with that is that my motherboard only supports RDRAM. I don't think that I can put a different kind of motherboard into my computer without changing everything. Although, I'm not too sure about it.

As far as RAM, I agree.. I should have more. But my problem with that is that my motherboard only supports RDRAM. I don't think that I can put a different kind of motherboard into my computer without changing everything. Although, I'm not too sure about it.

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What exact model Dell PC do you have? I'm guessing the CPU is a Pentium 4 as well, correct?

And Hat, Dell didn't use propriatary/BTX PSUs back in the day of which I think his Dell is from. I'm guessing it's probably a 300-350watt Dell ATX PSU.

Nah, I'm not dead set on the gaming headphones, I just thought they'd be a nice addition.

I'm pretty good with what little FPS I get, so I thought, hell, I might as well get some better sound.

Right now, I have around 400-500 to spend on it.

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Wow. Isnt that like, overspending ?
(If its US $)

You could have a whole new computer (excluding Monitor) for about $500Australian. With American cash you could push it even further and get a decent video card. Not to say yours is crap, my mate has one and it plays CS:S fine. CSS is a lovely game .

It looks like it uses a standard ATX power supply and a smaller ATX or perhaps micro atx motherboard. I'm guessing you could fairly easily upgrade to a normal SKT478 motherboard that supports DDR SDRAM. You could get a decent new board, a 1 or 2 GB DDR400 memory kit, a respectable video card and a nice headset for less than $250-$300 USD!

I definitely wouldn't bother directly upgrading the existing hardware inside that Dell... RDRAM is just waaaay to expensive and far outweighs the performance gain.

Just looked it up. The mobo mounts and power connector are mATX and ATX-P4 respectively, but everything else, like power connectors, front panel connectors, and I believe some sort of spacers, are proprietary. A little modding may be neccesary, unless we can put together a new rig for you, reusing your salvageable parts. (monitor, keyboard/mouse, hard drive, etc.) Choice is yours, really.